Sound picture record



Feb. 11, 1936. T. w. CASE SQUND PICTURE RECORD Filed June 27, 1928 2Sheets-Sheet 1 .4 O6 Q o 0 c o c 11v 51v roR 44m MM BY 19' J flrroR Ys.

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2 Sheets-Sheet 2 T W CASE SOUND PICTURE RECORD Filed June 27, 1928 Feb.11, 1936.

Patented Feb. 11, 1936 PATENT OFFICE 2,030.00: soum rrc'roaa naooanTheodore Willard Case, Auburn, Case Research Laboratory burn, N. Y., acorporation N. Y., assignor to Incorporated, Allof New York ApplicationJune 21, ms, Serial No. 283,076

26 Claim. This invention relates to certain improvements in soundpicture records and is a continuation in part of my application SerialNo. 124,724, filed July 24, 1926, now PatentNo. 1,896,682, dated 5February 7, 1933. In the production of moving picture films it iscustomary to splice the film together at various points throughout itslength to obtainthe desired sequence of pictures and for various other10 reasons, and when the sound record is produced along one edge of thepicture, the splice, which is not detrimental to the moving picture,results in a disagreeable click in the sound picture,'and the sameefi'ect results when a sound picture is [5 produced upon a filmindependently of a moving picture. 1

Further, such disagreeable noise or click exists at the beginning orending of a sound record. i. e. at the opposite ends of a film record,and may exist at various points throughout the sound record upon thefilm, as a result of momentary blasting of the source of light which isvaried to produce the sound record, or may result from other causes atvarious parts of the sound record.

And the object of this invention is to eliminate. the click or anyundesirable noise. or abrupt transition as, for instance, at thebeginning or ending oi a sound record which may result in thereproduction of recorded sound from a sound 0 picture on a film bygradually increasing or decreasing the light transmission capacity of aselected section or sections of the sound track portion of the film.

Other objects and advantages relate to the details of the structure andthe form and relation of the parts thereof, all as will more fullyappear from the following description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 illustrates a sound movingpicture film having a portion of the sound record adapted for variablelight transmission.

Figure 2 is a modification of Figure 1. Figure 3 shows how the sameeffect may be obtained as in Figures 1 and 2, with auxiliary i means.

Figure 4 is a modification of Figure 3. Figure 5 illustrates a soundtrack construction at the beginning and ending of a film.

Figure 8 illustrates the beginning and ending of a positive soundpicture record.

Figures 7 and 8 are respectively, modifications of Figures 5 and ii.

Figures 9 to 11 illustrate various means for eliminating undesirableportions of the sound record.

I have here illustrated a sound record as pro-' duced at one edge of amoving picture film, but it will be obvious that that is not essential,and the sound record may be'produced upon an independent film, ifdesired. As illustrated in the 5 figures, the frames B in the center ofthe film B represent the moving picture portion'of the film and thenarrow strip C at the left of the frames B indicates the sound recordportion of the film.

As shown in Figures 1 to 4, the film has been spliced by overlapping theadjacent ends between the'full line D and the dotted line E. Under this"condition it is found that in reproduction an undesirable click or noiseresults when'the portion of the record at the splice is reproduced, i5and I have found that this undesirable noise, or click can be eliminatedby gradually decreasing the light rays passing through the film from apoint some distance forward of the splice up to the splice, and thengradually increasing the light rays passing through the. from the splicerearwardly of the film, i. e. gradually decreasing the rays of lightpassing through the film from a normal condition of the sound record toa condition where substantially no rays pass 26 through the film at thespliced portion between the lines D and E, and then gradually increasingthe light rays passing through the film from the line D rearwardly ofthe film to a point where the film again assumes its normal sound recordso condition.

In view of the fact that it is usual to utilize a negative for theproduction of a number of positives, and that the positives are usuallyutilized imthe reproduction of the original sounds, as

the negative being retained merely for the production of positives, thecondition just described of gradually decreasing and gradually increas-1 ing the rays of light through a portion of the film to eliminateundesirable noises is produced upon the positive, altho ii the negativeis itself to be used for sound reproduction, this condition should beproduced upon the negative.

In Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4. therefora the films A may be either a negativeor a positive, but as before suggested, a positive is usually utilizedin the actual reproduction of talking moving pic- In Figure 1 thisgradual decrease and gradual increase of the passage oi light raysthrough the film is eil'ected by rendering a tapered portion of the filmadJacent the splice and forward of the dotted line E substantiallyopaque, i. e. at the line E the entire width of the sound record isrendered substantially opaque, and a line border- .6

tures.

the lines D and E is rendered opaque and rearwardly of the line D acorresponding gradual increase of the light rays passing through thefilm is effected by rendering a tapered portion of the sound recordopaque, the opaque portion at the line D substantially equaling thewidth of the film and being bounded by a line extending from one edge ofthe sound record diagonally to the other edge thereof. In this mannertwo similar tapered portions F and G are formed leading to and from thesplice whereby the passage of light rays through the film is graduallydecreased and increased, to thereby eliminate any sudden change whichresults in the undesirable noises described.

The two tapered substantially opaque portions F and G may be produced inany suitable way, as perhaps by covering the film with a suitablesubstantially opaque material, as for instance paint. 7

In Figure 2 substantially, the same result is accomplished in a somewhatdifferent manner in that the entire width of the sound record isgradually made less transparent from a point forward of the splice up tothe splice, at which point the record is rendered opaque, and thenrearwardly of the splice the entire width of the sound record from acondition of opacity is gradually rendered less opaque to a point atwhich the, sound record portion of the film remainsin its normalcondition, thereby forming two portions upon opposite sides of thesplice, the one forward of the splice gradually increasing in opacity ordecreasing in transparency from the normal condition of the sound recordto an opaque condition at the splice, and then rearwardly of the splicegradually iiicreasing in transparency from a condition of opacity to thenormal condition of the sound record.

The treated portion of the sound record forward of the splice isindicated by the letter H and the treated portion of the sound recordrearwardly of the splice is indicated bythe letter K. Any

. suitable means for effecting this increase and decrease intransparency may be utilized, as for instance by coloring the film.

In Figure 3a further structure for effecting the same result isillustrated in that the source of the light rays passing through thesound record is automatically and gradually varied so that the lightrays passingthrough thefilm are gradually decreased forwardly of thesplice and gradually increased rearwardly of thesplice by controllingthe sourceof said rays.

This may be accomplished in any suitable mane nei', as for instance byforming the edge of the film with a recess or concavity M, whichgradually increases in depth to a maximum and then gradually decreasesin depth until it again intersects the edge'of the film. This recess isproperly positioned and utilized in connection with the bar N which hasits inner end in contact with the edge of the film, and isspring-pressed inwardly as by spring 0. This bar N is connected to oneend of a lever P, the opposite end of which operates as one of thecontacts 'of a r of the film, if desired.

source of potential S which lights the lamp T.- The arm N moves inwardlyunder the action of spring when the recess M in the edge of the filmmoves by the end of the arm, and in this manner the rheostat R isautomatically controlled so as to gradually decrease and graduallyincrease the current flowing in the lighting circuit for the lamp andthe condition can be readily adjusted so that the lamp will be unlightedor practically unlighted at the splice, this condition being reached bya gradual variation in the rays emanating from the lamp to therebyeliminate the click ordinarily produced by the passage of a splice inthe sound record.

In Figure 4 a structure somewhat similar to Figure 3 is disclosed exceptthat the recess or notch in the edge 'of the film and which actuates thebar N is utilized for controlling a shutter W of any suitable and wellknown form, to thereby control the passage of light from the source T tothe sound record. The recess M in the .filrn is of such form so that incooperation with the arm N the passage of light to the film may bevaried gradually from normal intensity to a condition at which no lightpasses. Obviously the range of such adjustment may be predeterminedwithin any desired limits.

Figure 5 illustrates this invention as applied at the beginning andending of a sound record on a. film. As the sound record itself asproduced upon the film acts to vary the light transmission of the film,undesirable noise exists at the begin ning and ending of such a record,due to the sudden change in the value of the light transmission of thefilm.

In order to avoid this undesirable noise, it is only necessary, as shownin Figure 6, to produce upon the sound record portion of the film whichis to be used for reproduction, preferably as stated, the positive-filmwhich is illustrated in Figure 6, a substantially opaque portion I whichmay as shown begin at the end of the film and continues up'tosubstantially the point where it is desired to begin reproduction of thesound record. At this point the substantially opaque portion isgradually tapered off, as for instance along a diagonal line until anormal condition of the sound record isreached.

This tapered portion'marker 2 should be of suflicient length so as tograduate the light transmission over a sumcient portion of the soundrecord to prevent the production of the undesirable noise. At the end ofthe film to be used in reproduction, as for instance the positive, asshown in Figure 6, the reverse condition is produced beginning at anormal condition of the sound record, the light transmission of the filmis gradually decreased through a tapered area 3 gradually increasing inwidth until it occupies the entire area of the sound record, and thisopaque portion 4 may be continued to the end In this manner theundesirable noise which ordinarily occurs at the beginning and ending ofa sound record is eliminated by the gradual variation in the lighttransmission of the film adjacent these points. As before stated, thefilm which is to be used in reproduction is the film which should betreated so as to produce the condition shown in Figure 6, but if thatfilm be the positive, as is usual, the negative from which 7 rheostat Rincluded in the circuitcontaining the Where the opaque strip marked l inFigure 6 is a Col substantially transparent strip leading up to asubstantially transparent tapered portion 6, and at the end of the filmthe strip 1 is rendered substantially transparent, or any means may beprovided for permitting the substantially free passage of light raysthrough this portion leading up to the tapered substantially transparentportion 8.

' When a positive is printed from such a negative, the transparentportions upon the negative reproduce substantially opaque portions uponthe positive, and this is the desired condition when the positive is thefilm adapted to be used for reproducing the original sound.

The structures shown in Figures 7 and 8 are substantially the same inoperation as those shown in Figures 5 and 6, except that instead ofshowing tapered portions transparent in the negative and opaque in thepositive, which extend from one edge of the sound record to the oppositeedge, the substantially transparent tapered portions 9 and ID in thenegative of Figure "l are V-shaped, with their apices at substantiallythe central portion of the film, and the opaque tapered portions H andI2 01' the positive shown in Figure 8 are such as to be reproduced byprinting of a positive from the nega-- tive 01 Figure 7.

The .result, however, in reproduction of the positive of Figure 8issubstantially the same in the elimination oi undesirable noise as thatdisclosed in the previous figures.

The opaque portions desirable upon the posi; tive atany of the pointsdescribed may be produced, as stated, by rendering correspondingportions of the negative substantially free to the passage oi. lightrays. This may be accomplished in any suitable manner. However; apositive may be printed from a negative, as originally produced, and thepositive may then itself be treated in any suitable manner to render.the desired portions opaque, as for instance by painting the desiredportions with a substantially opaque material, or with ink, or bypasting a properly shaped opaque strip oi material over the desiredportion, and in Figure 9 there is illustrated a positive having opaquetriangular pieces or sheets of opaque material It and I4 pasted on thefilm at the desired points to gradually vary the light transmission oi'this portion of the film.

In Figure 10 there is shown a sound record upon a film in whichundesirable noise would be caused at the point lil due to the fact thatthe sound record is defective at this point resultant trom blasting ofthe lamp, or otherwise. This is illustrated as upon the film which is tobe used for reproducing the sounds, and may be either the positive ornegative. I! it be the negative, any suitable means may be utilized forproducing an oppositely tapered substantially triangular portion whichwhen printed would produce the substantially opaque truncated conesection l6 upon the positive, or if, the positive be directly printedfrom a negative having an undesirable part I! then the substantiallyopaque portion I6 may-be produced on the positive in any suitable way,as by painting, inking or pasting a substantially opaque pieceoi'material upon this portion of the positive. In this manner theundesirable portion 01' the sound record is eliminated" and the sectionis usually so short as not to audibly interrupt the reproduction or theoriginal sounds.

The invention here, therefore, contemplates a means for eliminatingundesirable sounds at any portion of a sound record and this can beeffected by rendering the sound record inoperative at selected portionsof the film. This inoperativeness 0! such portions can be accomplishedby rendering these portions 01' the film adapted to be used forreproduction substantially opaque to light transmission, and such apositive can be reproduced from a negative by rendering correspondingportions of the negative substantially transparent to lighttransmission.

For the purpose oi. claims of this application, the image on a positive01 a splice in the negative or the portion of the positive whichunderlies the negative and upon which said image would appear afterprinting, is deemed the equivalent or a splice in that it, produces thesame undesirable noise and requires exactly the same gradual increaseand/or decrease in light transmission capacity to eliminate theundesirable noise.

And although I have shown and described a specific means and structurefor accomplishing this result, it' will be obvious that various means.

and apparatus may be utilized, and that the structures may be producedin various ways, all without departing from the spirit of this inventionas set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with a spliced film having a sound record thereon, ormeans for gradually decreasing light rays passing through the film froma point forward 01" the splice up to the splice, and means for graduallyincreasing light rays passing through the film rearwardly of the spliceto a normal condition of the sound record.

2. The combination with a spliced film having a sound record thereon, ofmeans for gradually decreasing light rays passing through the film froma point forward 01 the splice up to a condition where substantially nolight rays pass through the film at the splice, and means for graduallyincreasing light rays passing through the film rearwardly oi the spliceto a normal condition 01' the sound record.

3. The combination with a positive having a sound record thereonincluding the image of the splice in the negative from which thepositive was produced, of means for gradually decreasing light rayspassing through the positive from a point forward of the image 01' thesplice, and

means for gradually increasing light rays passing through the positiverearwardly oi the image of the splice to a normal condition .0! thesound record.

4. The combination with a spliced sound record element having a soundrecord thereon,

or means for gradually decreasing light rays passing through the soundrecordportion oi the element from a point tom the splice.

5. The combination with a spliced sound record element having a soundrecord thereon, of means for gradually increasing light rays passingthrough the sound record portion of the element rearwardly oi the spliceto a normal condition of the sound .reco

6. A film adapted to receive a sound record, a sound record on a portionof the film, means preventing the passage of light rays through theportion or the film having no sound record thereon, and means enablingthe passage of a gradually increasing number 01" light rays through thefilm at approximately the point where a sound record first appears onthe film.

7. A film having a sound record thereon, means for gradually decreasingthe light transmission d of the splice up to,

. capacity through a portion of the sound record to a point ofsubstantially no transmission capacity, and means adjacent the aforesaidmeans the sound record at a selected portion thereof,

7 light transmission capacity through a portion of and means additionalto the sound record for gradually increasing the light transmissioncapacity through another selected portion of the sound record.

9. A film having a. sound track, a record corresponding to sound waveson said track, and

means gradually increasing the light transmission capacity through aselected portion 01 said sound track.

10. A film having a sound track, a record corresponding to sound waveson said track, and means gradually decreasing the light transmissioncapacity throughout a selected portion of said sound track.

11. In a positive film printed from a previously spliced negative filmand having a sound. track and a sound record printed thereon, means forrendering the portion of the positive film corresponding to the splicedportion of the negative film substantially opaque to the passage oflight rays and for rendering portions of said positive film at oppositeends of said substantially opaque portion oi. gradually decreasing lighttransmission capacity as they extend from the opaque portion towardthose portions having normal light transmission capacity oisound record.

12."A film including a sound track portion, a

record of light waves corresponding to sound wave variations on saidtrack, means additional to the sound record for gradually decreasing thelight transmission capacity through a portion of said sound track.

13. A film including a sound track portion, a record of light wavescorresponding to sound wave variations on said track, means additionalto the sound record for gradually increasing the said sound track.

14. A film having a sound track portion, a recordcorrespondingto soundwaves on said sound capacity through a selected portion of the soundtrack, and means adjacent to the aforesaid means and additional'to thesound record for increasing the light transmission capacity throughanother selected portion of said sound track.

15. A film having asound track portion,- a record corresponding to soundwave variations on said track, means additional to the sound record forgradually decreasing light transmission through a selected portion 0!the sound track from a normal transmission capacity of the sound recordto substantially no. transmission capacity, and means additional to thesound record for gradually increasing the light tron capacity from thepoint where substantially no transmission takes place,- to a'normaltransmission capacity of the sound record. 16. A film having .a soundtrack portion with a splice in the same, a record corresponding to soundwave variations on said sound track, means additional to the smmd recordfor gradually decreasing the light transmission capacity through aselected portion of the sound track forward of the splice up tosubstantially no transmission capacity at the splice, and meansadditional to .named portion covered with the same material whereby thelight transmission of said sound record is gradually changed from normaltransmission capacity to substantially no transmission capacity at theselected portion and gradually changed from substantially notransmission capacity to normal transmission capacity rearwardly of theselected portion.

18. A positive film printed from a previously spliced negative filmhaving the portion corresponding to the spliced portion of the negativefilm substantially opaque to the passage of light rays, and sections onopposite sides of said portion of gradually increasing lighttransmission capacity as they extend from said portion.

19. A film having a sound record thereon, means for gradually decreasingthe amount of light transmitted through a portion of the sound record toa point of substantially no transmission and means for graduallyincreasing the amount of light transmitted through another portion ofthe sound record from a condition of substantially no transmission tonormal transmission of sound record.

20. A film having a photographically effected area of varying densitycorresponding to sound wave variations, and a tapered portion of saidphotographically effected area being rendered substantially opaque.

21. In the art of sound photography, the method of reducing theobjectionable sound effect at the changeover from one piece oi soundrecord to another which comprises obscuring part of the sound record'atthe change-over point by applying apiece of opaque, flexible material.

22. A motion picture film having thereon two consecutive areascontaining photographic sound records joined together, and a piece ofopaque material applied to the sound record for obscuring a portion ofeach record at the junction point. 1

23. A motion picture film having thereon two consecutive areascontaining photographic sound records joined together at their ends, anda piece of opaque, flexible material having tapering ends applied to thesound record and serving to obscure a portion of each of said soundrecords at the junction point. i

24. A motion picture film having thereon two consecutive areascontaining photographic sound records joined together and a piece ofmaterial applied to and obscuring a portion of each record over from oneaccompaniment to another on the sme continuous record which comprisesapplytil (ill

in: to the sound record adjacent the point of change-over a layer whichprogressively increases the density 01' the record.

26. In the art of reproduction of sound from photographic records, themethod of reducing objectionable sound "effects at the point ofchange-over from one accompaniment to another on the same continuousrecord which comprises applying to the sound record at the point orchange-over a layer which gradually increases the density 0! the soundrecord to substantially the point of change-over and then graduallydiminishes the density of the record from that 5 point. 1

THEODORE WILLARD CASE.

